Of Puppies and Plates
by Zana Zira
Summary: Angeal Hewley is a very patient man, but there are times when Zack the Puppy manages to push his mentor's patience a little too far. This time, Zack learns there are some things that can never be replaced, and times when "I'm sorry" just isn't enough. No pairings. Written for Unattainable Dreams' "An Argument Resolved" Prompt Exchange Challenge.


**This was written for** Unattainable Dreams **"A Resolved Argument Prompt Exchange Challenge." The prompt was "A chain of bad events leads to a fight involving an old vase and a plate shaped like a monkey's head." Yeah, I don't know either. Anyway, this is what I came up with. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Aww, geez," Zack groaned as he covered his nose with one hand for what must have been the fiftieth time that morning. "I think I'm gonn- ah… _Achoo!_ Guh… Sneeze again." He sniffled and wiped his nose with the tissue Angeal handed him, tossing it into the trash to join its ten friends who had already been used that day. Once he was sure he wasn't going to be attacked by another sneeze for the moment, he picked his dust rag up off of the floor and began cleaning the shelf in front of him again, being sure to hold his breath when he raised up another dust cloud. "Remind me how I got roped into this 'spring cleaning' thing again, Angeal. Isn't Genesis supposed to be the one helping, since he, y'know, _lives here too_?"

"Yes, well…" Angeal said slowly, running a hand back through his hair before returning to the task of watering his many hanging plants. "Getting Genesis to help clean _anything_ is usually more trouble than it's worth."

"But then why's he making you do it? Why not hire someone?"

"If I let Gen hire someone, he'd tell them to take all of my plants out of here. I actually caught him trying to do that once."

"It was only because all of your filthy plants are attracting bugs, 'Geal!" Genesis said as he suddenly entered the room, his red leather coat flapping behind him. "Why can't you just garden outside like a normal person? That's where nature belongs – _outside_."

"There isn't enough light outside, and there's too much pollution," Angeal replied evenly. "And if you're not going to help clean, you don't get to complain." Genesis snorted and strode over to the couch, dropping down onto it and retrieving his ever-present copy of LOVELESS from a pocket in his coat.

"Whatever. But if I find another spider in my bed, those plants are _gone._" Angeal smiled and rolled his eyes, choosing not to comment. Meanwhile, Zack had been doing his best to ignore the both of them so he could get a few more things cleaned before his next sneezing attack. Who knew the sixteen-year-old Second Class would be so allergic to something as boring as dust? He wished it could at least be something _everyone_ wasn't allergic to, like cucumbers or basil or something. Or maybe horseradish. Yeah, that sounded really cool, plus it was fun to say. Horseradish. Radish for horses. Or made of horses? Or maybe –

"Zack! Watch what you're doing!"

"Uwah?!" Zack spun around quickly, startled out of his rambling thoughts by Angeal's raised voice. As he did so, his elbow knocked against the shelf below the one he had been dusting; time seemed to stand still for a moment and he held his breath as the objects on the shelf – an old vase and a strange plate that resembled a monkey's head – rocked back and forth threateningly. Then, with a sickening crash, the entire shelf fell to the floor, leaving shards of broken glass and porcelain littered across the tile that Angeal had cleaned only an hour before.

The room was silent for a full thirty seconds. Not even Genesis dared make a sarcastic remark as he watched Angeal's face change rapidly from its normal tan to white, then red, then back to tan again, his eyes narrowing with fury as he looked from the broken objects to Zack's guilty face. Without a word, Angeal clenched his jaw and picked up his Buster Sword from the corner of the room, sheathing it on his back and walking toward the front door.

"Zack, didn't I just tell you to pay attention?" Angeal asked softly, almost venomously, as he whirled around to face his student. "Don't I _always_ tell you to pay attention?"

"I _was_ paying –"

"No, you weren't. It's not hard to dust a shelf if you're paying any attention at all. Why do I even bother repeating myself? You obviously haven't heard it the other fifty times I've said it. Why should that change now?"

"Angeal, I'm –"

"Don't," Angeal snapped, cutting Zack's apology short. "We're done cleaning for today, Zack; you can go home. I'm going to train. _Alone_," he added when Zack moved to follow him. The raven-haired boy flinched visibly, his eyes shining with hurt at the cold dismissal in his mentor's tone. Without another word, Angeal stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door hard enough to rattle some of the other objects still on the shelves in the living room. Zack turned around to begin cleaning up the broken glass, surprised to see Genesis already picking up the larger pieces with an uncharacteristically sad expression on his face.

"You really screwed up this time, Fair," he said quietly, holding up what had once been the ear on the monkey's-head plate.

"Why?" Zack almost shouted, kneeling down to help Genesis and not even noticing the small cuts he got on his knees for the effort. "What's so special about a little vase and a weird plate? They can't be that expensive, right? I'll just replace them!" Genesis shook his head, standing up to grab a broom once he had picked up the largest pieces of glass.

"It wasn't the cost that made these important, Zack," he said, staring at the younger man as if he was the biggest idiot in the world. "It was their sentimental value."

"Senti-what?" Zack asked, not familiar with the concept. There wasn't much about home he remembered particularly fondly, after all.

"Angeal's told you a little about his childhood in Banora, right? How his family was very poor and they always just barely had enough to get by?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, when we were both little children, Angeal overheard his mother talking to some of her friends about how she wished she could have new dishes in the kitchen, and how she hated that the worn-down and cracked ones were all they could afford. He wanted to help, but he was too proud even at ten years old to ask for money from my family. Instead, he saved up a little at a time by helping people out around town, doing odd jobs and yard work for them.

"When the travelling merchants visited Banora later that summer, he bought that bowl-shaped vase and that monkey plate. They were worth next to nothing, but they were all he could afford, and they were still 'dishes' in a way. His mother was so happy when he brought them home that she cried all over him. She kept them and used them every day for years, but she wanted him to take them here when he left for SOLDIER. He's kept them all this time because it reminds him of home, and of his mother."

"I had no idea…" Zack whispered, his hands shaking and his face pale. "I… I messed up something that important? Oh, gods, Genesis! What am I gonna do?! Angeal's never gonna forgive me!"

"I don't know about all that. He's a pretty forgiving guy."

But Zack wasn't listening anymore. The Gongagan boy had already dashed out of the room, clutching his wallet in his hands and praying that he could find another of those plates somewhere in Midgar before Angeal got back. Genesis rolled his eyes and resumed sweeping the floor.

"Too much energy…"

* * *

"Aww, c'moooon!" Zack muttered as he saw the words "sold out" under yet another auction site's listing of the plate. "Are you serious?! There has to be _someone _who still has a –" He froze, his hand on the mouse, as he stared at the last listing on the page. It was identical to the plate in Angeal's apartment, and listed for…

"Five thousand gil?! Are you _kidding_ me?!" Zack shook his head, running his hands through his hair and making it spike up even more than usual, before he sighed and clicked on the link. "Well, I guess I'll just have to live on instant noodles for a while." He placed the order quickly, groaning when he saw that it would cost an extra five hundred gil for same-day delivery, and sat back in his chair, feeling suddenly exhausted. "Angeal had better be happy about this…"

* * *

When Angeal returned to his apartment that evening, he was beginning to feel that he had overreacted badly earlier that day. Zack had only been helping with the cleaning as a favor to Angeal, after all, and it was obvious that he was toughing out some miserable allergies just to help his mentor even though he didn't have to. Besides, how could Zack have known anything about the value of the vase and plate? Angeal had never spoken to him about them, so he had probably never thought a thing about it. Seeing Zack's hurt, fearful face in his mind's eye made Angeal's chest constrict with guilt once again. He loved Zack like a son, and knowing that he had hurt the boy's feelings so badly didn't sit well with him at all.

"_Well,_" he thought as he slid his house key into the front door's lock. "_All I can do now is apologize._" He swung the door open slowly, almost jumping back in shock when Zack rushed out at him, carrying some kind of package in his arms and nearly thrusting it into Angeal's chest before the SOLDIER First finally got a grip on it.

"Zack?" Angeal asked, holding the package and looking curiously at its shape. "What is –"

"I'm sorry, Angeal!" Zack blurted out, turning his eyes down to the floor guiltily. "I didn't know how important those things were to you, or I would've been more careful. I know it's not the same, but… Well, just open it and see…"

Angeal did as he was told and opened the package quickly, his eyes widening comically when he realized what was inside. The plate was almost exactly the same as the one he had brought from Banora, although this one was much less worn.

"Zack…" Zack flinched, and Angeal had to resist the urge to hug him when he looked so pitiful. "You didn't have to do this."

"Sure I did," Zack said in a near-whisper, his gaze still directed at the floor. "I messed up something really important to you. The least I could do was replace it, whatever the cost." Angeal winced, not sure he wanted to know how much Zack had spent on it. Whatever the amount, it was almost guaranteed to be too much; he had only spent one hundred gil on it as a child.

"Zack, come here." The puppyish boy obeyed, looking up in surprise when his mentor grabbed him in a quick hug. Zack was very much a physically affectionate person, but Angeal almost never was. "I appreciate this, Zack, I really do," he said, smiling brightly at his student. "But the plate isn't what's important to me. It's the memories behind it that matter, and no one can ever take those from me whether I still have it or not. Do you understand?"

"So… You aren't mad anymore?" Zack asked, suddenly seeming much younger than sixteen.

"No, I'm not mad. I shouldn't have even gotten mad this morning. You didn't deserve it, and I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's okay. I should learn to listen better, too. Umm… So you like the plate, though?"

"Yes. It's just as gaudy as I remember," Angeal said with a chuckle, placing it on the shelf where the other one had been. "And I'll pay you back whatever it cost to get it, okay?" Zack sighed heavily, sagging a little in relief.

"Thanks, Angeal. I thought I was gonna have to live on nothing but noodles for a month!"

"A month? How much did that cost?"

"Five thousand, five hundred gil total."

"Five th – ! You know what, never mind. You just go watch T.V. or something while I get dinner started, okay?"

"Okay." Without another word, Zack bounded off to the other room, back to his usual puppyish self and sure to have forgotten this incident by morning. Angeal just shook his head, chuckling to himself as he got out the ingredients for tonight's dinner.

"Five thousand gil! Well, at least I'll have a funny story for Genesis when he gets back. And he said that plate wasn't a good conversation piece!"


End file.
